Please Stop 'Burning In' Your Earphones

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Please Stop 'Burning In' Your Earphones

Burning-in headphones. Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Photo: Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

OK, audiophiles: real talk. Earphone makers seem to be either too polite or scared to say anything. And the people in the industry who should know better are only actively encouraging a ritual. So let me say it for them: Earphone burn-in is a bunch of hokum.

For those of you unfamiliar with the practice, it basically amounts to pumping different kinds of sound into a new pair of headphones or earphones for a given period of time. This is to be done before any critical listening happens. Think of it as the sonic equivalent of breaking in a new pair of shoes — the idea being that the true character of your earphones will only surface after some robust exercise. The only problem? There's zero evidence this does anything but defer your enjoyment of music and add more confusion to an already complex topic.

Audiophiles will often apply their own burn-in technique to any number of music-listening devices: earphones, headphones, amps, speakers, even cables. With larger headphones, mechanical burn-in is supposed to describe the gradual settling in of the design parameters of the cone diaphragms (the things that vibrate back and forth to create the air pressure changes that we interpret as sound in our ears) into their intended or optimal state. After this period, proponents claim they are able to vibrate more freely, thus allowing for better sound.

But wait, there's more. Optimal burn-in times range from 40 to 400 hours, and the process itself can also take myriad forms. Manufacturers like Ultrasone offer specific burn-in times for their cans, but others are happy to leave the details to the true believers. Some of the latter will simply play music through their phones continuously for a day or two. Others go with a more comprehensive approach, making elaborate burn-in mixes and sharing them with others. These can include loops of pure tones, white noise, sine wave sweeps, and even pink noise. A cult burn-in favorite includes using Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, an album that's been described as "the tubular groaning of a galactic refrigerator." Others simply prefer the soothing sound of rain sticks.

To be fair, the physical properties of any mechanical device can and do change over time. But whether those changes have a perceivable (and beneficial) effect, that's another story.

As with many of the numinous subjects in the audiophile realm, this odd little custom sits squarely at the intersection of psychology, science, marketing, and that eternally subjective thing known as "sound quality." And that makes it particularly troublesome.

Matt Engstrom, director of monitoring products at Shure, admits there is evidence that suggests transducers in larger headphones can experience burn-in, and that this could, in theory, produce different sound over time. Again, no one has shown this conclusively, largely because a) companies aren't rushing to tell audiophiles they've been wrong all these years and b) there's no single industry standard for testing headphones.

This much is known: When it comes to the tiny balanced armatures used in many earphones, there's just not the same potential for mechanical deviation. We're talking about things the size of a baby's tooth. And unlike the large drivers in over-the-ear headphones, there's just not that much room for things to change.

Shure has tested some thoroughly used pairs of its E1 earphones, which first launched in 1997. And guess what? They measure the same now as when they came off the line. In fact, during the 15 years Shure has been actively selling earphones, its engineers have reached the same conclusion again and again: The sound produced by these tiny transducers during final testing is the same sound you'll get in a day, in a year, and in five years... unless something goes wrong.

The company has an even longer history making microphones, which use the same technology as headphone transducers. "We've got a lot of data on those over the years, and we're not convinced on mic burn in either," Engstrom says. "If you think about it, regardless of whether a mic is plugged in, it's always hearing, it's always on. So, in theory, wouldn't those drivers always be burning in, and therefore wouldn't the curve be very very different over the course of its life?"

It's not.

Indeed, what keeps this debate going is really the lack of quantifiable evidence debunking the advantages of burn-in. Well, no one has disproven it, say audiophiles. Who are we to say what's going on between between people's ears, say manufacturers. It's kind of a Pascal's Wager for audiophiles: It costs them nothing, it does no harm to the headphones, and you potentially have more to lose not believing in burn-in than you do believing in it.

While some will say all of this harmless, the ambiguity and voodoo can confuse buyers and quickly turn into a colossal waste of time. The fact is burn-in has now become tribal knowledge. Read the Amazon comments on a standard pair of $50 earphones and you'll probably find people talking about how long they need to be burned in, and how much different they sound after 400 hours of pink noise. Then there are popular websites, which shall remain nameless, that purport to do rigorous testing on earphones and include burn-in times in their routines. You might as well be kissing each earpiece 50 times to see what sonic difference that makes.

Think about it this way: Why would any headphone and earphone manufacturer design and ship something that's not already in its optimal state? People already have enough trouble getting a decent fit with their earphones (something that really does affect the sound quality). Then there's the mind-boggling variation in performance that comes with the actual music files and equipment you use to listen to your music.

Indeed, all of this variation gets at the real thing people are reacting to when they buy new head- and earphones: mental burn-in. If you're used to dark-sounding headphones, neutral ones may sound bright at first until you get used to the new sound. That flexible calibration is how many of our senses work. Light seems brighter after darkness, sound rings louder after silence. Chances are, a lot of what people attribute to headphone burn-in is actually just their brains gradually becoming used to this new sound or new setting.

So next time you buy a new pair of earphones, try this alternative ritual: Open the box, remove the earphones, put them in your ears (using the correct method, of course), and then start playing music. Like the way they sound? Great. Keep them. Don't like it after a day or two? Return 'em. Even if you brain says otherwise, the sound they produce isn't going to change.